Christophe Chaboute adapts filmmaker Benoit Cohen’s 2017 book Yellow Cab into a comic of the same name, wherein Cohen decides to slum it as a NYC taxi driver for a few months in 2016 to gather material for a new film.
Chaboute is a fine cartoonist but even he can’t make anything compelling out of Cohen’s dreary memoir. Nearly the entire first half of the book showcases the administrative nightmare that is becoming a New York cab driver, which was simply tedious to read, while the second half is Cohen’s experiences ferrying people around the vast metropolis that is New York, none of which were memorable. It’s also not interesting reading about Cohen’s notes on his would-be screenplay.
Chaboute’s black and white artwork is first rate and he draws New York beautifully, which is by turns vibrant and intimidating, and I suppose the book is informative if you’ve ever wondered about the world of cab drivers (no, me neither). Overall though, Yellow Cab is a very dull comic that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone - check out Chaboute’s other books like his more successful (because exciting stuff actually happens in it!) adaptation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick or his even better book The Park Bench instead.
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